How to identify them

Millipedes are slow, rounded, worm-like crawlers, brown to black, with many short legs — two pairs per body segment, which distinguishes them from the faster, flatter, one-pair-per-segment centipedes. When disturbed or dead they characteristically curl into a tight spiral.

Behavior and biology in South Florida

Millipedes are beneficial decomposers, living in moist soil, mulch, and leaf litter where they feed on decaying plant matter. They are harmless — they do not bite — but when threatened many species secrete a defensive fluid that has an unpleasant odor and can stain surfaces or irritate skin slightly.

The problem is seasonal and dramatic: after heavy rains saturate the soil, or when populations peak, millipedes migrate in large numbers and pour into garages, lanais, and homes through the smallest ground-level gaps — often dozens at once, dead and alive, along the base of walls.

Signs of an infestation

• Many slow, coiled or crawling millipedes along garage and foundation walls
• Sudden invasions right after heavy rain
• Dead millipedes accumulating at door thresholds and baseboards
• Activity concentrated in damp mulch and ground cover outside

Why they are a problem

Millipedes cause no structural damage and do not bite, so they are a nuisance pest — but a memorable one, since they arrive in overwhelming numbers and their defensive secretions can stain and smell. Cleaning up repeated mass invasions is the real burden for homeowners.

How Bugsy’s treats millipedes

Control centers on the moist perimeter that breeds and harbors them. Our technicians treat mulch beds, ground cover, and foundation zones with targeted materials, create an exterior barrier that intercepts migrating millipedes, and seal the ground-level gaps they use to get in. We advise on the drainage and mulch conditions driving the invasions.

Preventing millipedes

• Keep mulch thin and pulled back from the foundation
• Improve drainage and correct irrigation overspray and low, wet spots
• Seal gaps under doors, garage thresholds, and along the foundation
• Remove leaf litter, grass clippings, and debris against the house
• Reduce exterior moisture and clutter where they gather before invading

At a glance

DecomposerRain-driven invaderCoils when disturbedHarmless